The chronicle of the Svir region is still supplemented with forgotten facts by the local historian and writer Pyotr Vasiliev. His archives contain the testament of a fellow countryman who was mortally wounded in Crimea, and the testimonies of prisoners of Svirlag - the death factory of the Stalin era, and photographs of half-flooded gravestones on the island formed from the blown-up bell tower - all that remains of the village of Ostrechiny. Vasiliev is an inconvenient person for those who find the truth unprofitable, and necessary for those who sincerely love these lands. Peter told about his finds, worries and plans in an interview with OK-inform
How can you explain your interest in the history of the Svir region?
- This interest is written in the family: I was born in Lodeynoye Pole, on the bank of the border river Svir, north of which my maternal ancestors - Karelians from ancient times lived, and to the south - my father's grandfathers and great-grandfathers, descendants of the annalistic vesti.
On Svir in Stalin's time there was Svirlag - a special camp. Since there is almost no evidence of this left, others argue that it did not exist at all. What will you answer to those who consider Svirlag a "ghost"?
- Yes, this "ghost" after the official closure killed an honest man - clergyman Alexei Zapadalov, who once served as a funeral service for the great poet Alexander Blok. A priest who, at the age of 62, fulfilled the norms for digging a foundation pit for the future hydroelectric power station in Svirstroy and felled trees at logging sites, but was shot on the denunciation of a neighbor in the barracks for his unbroken faith in the triumph of justice. The mortality rate in Svirlag was the highest among the camps of Stalin's time, and I would very much like the doubters to look into the eyes of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of thousands of deceased prisoners, even whose mass graves were hidden for decades.
Where the prisoners died, there is a worship cross. Is this the only evidence that there was a camp here?
- It is known that several camp sites in Svirlag were located along the banks of the Vazhinka River, where, according to the recollections of surviving eyewitnesses, many prisoners died. A place was indicated near the ancient village of Soginnitsa, in which the camp hospital was located. There were so many deceased prisoners that they were thrown into pits by several people. There, in 2013, we decided to install a memorial plate and a veneration cross, at which a memorial service was served. And we discovered another mass grave of prisoners with the help of an old-timer and search engines on the outskirts of Podporozhye. There, too, a divine service took place, already in 2016. We plan to install a memorial sign in this place too.
Will a museum for the victims of Svirlag be created?
Promotional video:
- The idea of a museum is at first perceived by many with interest, and then suddenly insurmountable obstacles appear that prevent partners from starting the construction of an “unusual” object. I offered the next option to the owner of the miraculously preserved cars from Stalin's time, in which prisoners were transported. The head of the Ladoga hydroelectric power plants supported the idea, but so far he refers to employment. And the unique items of Svirlag are still on my balcony. They have already been filmed for films, even by journalists from central German television, exhibited at an exhibition at an art school, but have not yet waited for a place worthy of memory and public attention.
Photo from the archive of Petr Vasiliev
Which of the precepts of grandfathers and great-grandfathers, in your opinion, are the most relevant today?
- Just the other day I read the will of 1854 of our fellow countryman mortally wounded in the Crimea. He wrote to his sons that they would not have to blush for him, and advises them to live so that their children would not have to blush, and he bequeathed money to them only if they became honest officers. From such a carefully guarded family reputation, the spiritual strength of the Fatherland was formed. And you also need to maintain with your children a thread of complete trust and understanding that in any situation, parents are the closest and most faithful people who will never betray, and be so.
How much, in your opinion, is being done in the region in order to preserve the indigenous population - representatives of small peoples?
- Frankly? Almost nothing is being done. Holidays, books, videos and even educational media programs are just a bright shell, and the last speakers of culture and language, living in their relatives, isolated from the centers of villages, do not suspect how much money is spent on preserving their disappearing people. Here is a good undertaking with early pensions for Vepsians who preserved their traditional way of life in their native land, ditched under the silence of the regional and district authorities.
What is the old Vepsian land for you?
- Banks in the upper reaches of the main Vepsian river Oyati, ancient mounds along its banks, century-old houses without siding and satellite antennas, village cemeteries with graves overgrown with moss and cowberry, cows with sheep behind a hedge, pine forests and spruce fields with streams and springs.
What worries your fellow countrymen first of all today?
- In the Year of Ecology, I cannot but recall the disastrous state of the Svir River and a number of its tributaries. Until now, there are no modern and reliable sewage treatment facilities in all settlements along the banks of the river of the highest fishery category. Tight control over motor ships passing through the Svir has not been debugged. The situation with the disposal of municipal solid waste in the Podporozhsky region, as well as the development of the coastal strip of public water bodies, is also alarming. Not everything is going smoothly with the use of chemicals and the storage of poultry manure in the water protection zone. The outflow of young people and the aging of the population continue.
Photo from the archive of Petr Vasiliev
Is the situation in the regional centers probably better than in the remote villages?
- Yes, residents of remote villages suffer more. Their troubles are aggravated by the funeral chores - to such an extent that the last village peasants are forced to pull a sled with a coffin for about a kilometer knee-deep in snow to the cemetery. In the Podporozhsky district, at any time, more than 7 thousand local residents may be left without a reliable road connecting with the regional center - due to the emergency state of the crossing over the dam of the Verkhne-Svirskaya hydroelectric power station, because a new bridge can begin to be built only in a few years. In both districts, people are not satisfied with the quality of repair and maintenance of roads, which are falling apart a year after asphalt paving, although asphalt with forty years of experience has been preserved nearby without replacement.
Please tell us about your plans for local history and creativity …
- We are completing with the director Evgenia Gorelikova the work on the documentary "The Long Echo of Svirlag" and we are still looking for a producer for the filming of the feature film "Omut" based on my story about tragic love in the war. With the director Alexander Alexandrov we are planning to make a film about the disappeared Karelians of the Svir region, I am looking for a director and funds for filming the film "Leningrad Atlantis" - about the flooded village of Ivin and its last inhabitants. I am working on the difficult for me local history novel "Noid's Way", in which I want to reflect many secrets from the history of the Svir region. And in the summer I will continue to work with archaeologists and search engines. There is a chance to make new discoveries, delved into the publications of the nineteenth century about our land and already found a lot of previously unknown.
How long have you been working on this material and how?
- In the Leningrad region there are many places known only to fishermen and hunters. And there are villages that have completely disappeared from the face of the earth, more precisely, hidden under water. The settlements of Ivina and Ostrechiny almost on the border with Karelia went to the bottom after the war, when the Ivinskoye reservoir was created. According to the GOERLO plan, two hydroelectric power plants were built on the Svir. For them, it was necessary to flood the territory. There are small islands left that preserve the memory of what no longer exists … There are tombstones throughout the reservoir. The local huntsman, saving the slabs from the fishermen, put them in his place for a long time: the chronicle of the Ivin land was made from granite. Today, worship crosses remind of the flooded villages of Ostrechiny and Ivina. I am gradually gathering materials for the film "Leningrad Atlantis", as far as possible. I went there with colleagues from NTV, studied the half-flooded gravestones on the island,formed from the bell tower blown up in Ostrechiny. I found something in the Vyborg regional archive and in old publications of the nineteenth century.
What are your last articles devoted to, what problems are you going to raise in the future?
- My favorite topic is history, so I am writing about what I managed to dig up in old pre-revolutionary publications. I am writing about the troubles of my fellow countrymen, so that publications will help them understand what is happening. This used to be called newspaper line effectiveness. I am glad that the publications in Svirskiye Beregi evoke the necessary reaction from the governor and local authorities. I am closely following the construction of a new landfill for solid domestic waste in the Podporozhsky district, fearing that it will not be safe for the Svir. I want to continue the series of publications about the life of the hinterland.
They say that a book about an old storyteller will soon be published in your area …
- Yes. Now materials are being collected for the publication of a book with a unique creative heritage of the main storyteller Priotia Dmitry Vladimirovich Korablev. It was recorded by the author of the first book about Lodeynoye Pole, Petr Mikhailovich Zaitsev. The Krasnoborsky storyteller remembered fairy tales from childhood - not only from relatives, but also from neighbors and the village shepherd Larion Savelyevich Golubev. Already being an old man, the shepherd told the future storyteller the folk story about the king and the soldier, which he heard at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The fairy tale about the hero Ivan Dyadkovich was told to him by his neighbor Gerasim Ivanovich Grachev at the merchant's plot, and the fairy tale about Ivan Tsarevich and Ivan was retold by Mashina, lulling him, his mother, Alexandra Ivanovna Korablev … century: “Not in some kingdom,and in our state, on the Oyat side, in the village of Krasny Bor …"
If you were asked to formulate the main wish for your native places, what would you say?
- So that good people on the Svir and Oyat shores enjoy their age-old natural beauty and purity and do not lose faith, hope and a sense of simple human happiness.
Evgeniya Dyleva
